I'm sure I'm not going to say things that haven't been said here before. Heck, that's what a lot of this board is, but I want my say, so I'll say it.

Players we have that I like:
OL: Chester Pitts, Fred Weary, Zach Weigert, Eric Winston
Pitts seems to be steadying out at guard. He doesn't seem to have as many penalties against him as previously. Weary seemed to do fairly well, at least in the running game. Weigert and Winston, I think, is going to be a hefty battle in camp next year, unless they bring someone in who surpasses them both. My concerns are Centre and Left Tackle. If they want to push Pitts out to tackle and put McKinney in at Left Guard, I could live with that. I still want an upgrade at centre, though.

QB: David Carr
I don't want to keep Carr without a renegotiation of his contract, but I don't see why we wouldn't keep him at a lower price. He's learning, and if we can push his money into NLTBE incentives, that gives us more cap room next year for improving the team. He should want to do that too, since this is the most-likely place for him to start and if the alternative is to be traded into oblivion or released, if he is a football player, he'll want to be here.

RB: Ron Dayne, Chris Taylor, Vonta Leach
You don't see Leach fumbling away the game. You know why? He never touches the ball. (Or rarely, anyway) All he does is knock defenders around and make room for his HB. This is the guy we need in the backfield. Forget Jameel Cook and his "added dimension". If you want that kind of guy back there, put in 2 HBs. Dayne, his leg-breaking aside, has been the one real bright spot later on this season, and I hope he comes back, in whatever capacity they have for him. Taylor is a bundle of excitement. I don't care who it was against, I don't care what the game was worth. Taylor came out and had an awesome game against the Browns and his explosiveness should see him coming back next season, competing for some playing time.
Lundy and Gado could both leave and I wouldn't cry.

WR: All of 'em. Keep 'em all. They're all good, Moulds may be old, so we'll need a replacement, but for now, I think this is our most solid offensive position.

TE: Daniels. I like what he brings. He's not a wimp when it comes to blocking, and he seems to have hands of gold. I like Bruener's blocking, but he's old and done.

DL: Mario Williams, Anthony Maddox, Travis Johnson, Jason Babin, Anthony Weaver
How can you not love Mario "Hopalong" Williams? Production is down? Maybe because his foot is on fire. Anthony Maddox made an incredible impression on me in the time he has been playing with the Texans. He should be starting next year. Travis Johnson, to me, looks like Joppru did on offense. Just wrong place, wrong time. I hope there's room for him next year, and I hope he shows up and steps it up, because if he does, there's a lot of upside there. Babin too. Weaver is solid. I just hope he works out at tackle, because we could use some speed on the other side of Mario.

LB: Demeco Ryans, Morlon Greenwood.
What can I say about Ryans that hasn't already been said? Best player on our team, by far. Greenwood makes a lot of tackles, and he doesn't seem to miss many. He's not a big-time playmaker, which is too bad, considering what we paid him, but as long as he's not asked to take the team on his shoulders, he'll be solid.

S: Glenn Earl.
I love Glenn Earl. Every time I heard his name, it was a drive-killer. (Whether a penalty negated his play or not). If there were a solid safety on the other side of him, I think he could be all-world.

CB: Demarcus Faggins, Dunta Robinson.
I love Robinson's fire. Early in the season, when the defense was getting embarrassed, he was coming up and knocking the crud out of people because nobody else was doing it. Now that we've got an amazing linebacker doing it, Robinson can go back to shutting people down. I just hope he ends up with a safety he can trust. Faggins is awesome. I still haven't forgotten when he shut down Harrison in 2004. I think it was his first start. I'd like him to be a nickel back, but if he has to start, he's not the worst option we have (see: Sanders, Lewis)

K: Kris Brown will do.

P: nobody. We need more talent here.

Later on, I'll go through what I think we need to improve.

ojthecat

01-11-2007, 04:39 PM

I agree with everything you are saying execpt for Winston I saw him get beat and looked confused way too many times.

I hope we can aquire a real LT asap.

hadaad

01-11-2007, 05:34 PM

The problem, I believe, with Winston, is that he was a rookie, playing on a line with a bunch of people who didn't trust each other. Granted, that's not his only problem. He has a lot of work to do, but I think with that work, he'll get through it, and be an average to pretty good right tackle, which is more than I can say for anyone who's manned the position to this date with the Texans.

Greg Robinson-Randall... please!

swoldier

01-11-2007, 08:38 PM

I'm sure I'm not going to say things that haven't been said here before. Heck, that's what a lot of this board is, but I want my say, so I'll say it.

Players we have that I like:
OL: Chester Pitts, Fred Weary, Zach Weigert, Eric Winston
Pitts seems to be steadying out at guard. He doesn't seem to have as many penalties against him as previously. Weary seemed to do fairly well, at least in the running game. Weigert and Winston, I think, is going to be a hefty battle in camp next year, unless they bring someone in who surpasses them both. My concerns are Centre and Left Tackle. If they want to push Pitts out to tackle and put McKinney in at Left Guard, I could live with that. I still want an upgrade at centre, though.

QB: David Carr
I don't want to keep Carr without a renegotiation of his contract, but I don't see why we wouldn't keep him at a lower price. He's learning, and if we can push his money into NLTBE incentives, that gives us more cap room next year for improving the team. He should want to do that too, since this is the most-likely place for him to start and if the alternative is to be traded into oblivion or released, if he is a football player, he'll want to be here.

RB: Ron Dayne, Chris Taylor, Vonta Leach
You don't see Leach fumbling away the game. You know why? He never touches the ball. (Or rarely, anyway) All he does is knock defenders around and make room for his HB. This is the guy we need in the backfield. Forget Jameel Cook and his "added dimension". If you want that kind of guy back there, put in 2 HBs. Dayne, his leg-breaking aside, has been the one real bright spot later on this season, and I hope he comes back, in whatever capacity they have for him. Taylor is a bundle of excitement. I don't care who it was against, I don't care what the game was worth. Taylor came out and had an awesome game against the Browns and his explosiveness should see him coming back next season, competing for some playing time.
Lundy and Gado could both leave and I wouldn't cry.

WR: All of 'em. Keep 'em all. They're all good, Moulds may be old, so we'll need a replacement, but for now, I think this is our most solid offensive position.

TE: Daniels. I like what he brings. He's not a wimp when it comes to blocking, and he seems to have hands of gold. I like Bruener's blocking, but he's old and done.

DL: Mario Williams, Anthony Maddox, Travis Johnson, Jason Babin, Anthony Weaver
How can you not love Mario "Hopalong" Williams? Production is down? Maybe because his foot is on fire. Anthony Maddox made an incredible impression on me in the time he has been playing with the Texans. He should be starting next year. Travis Johnson, to me, looks like Joppru did on offense. Just wrong place, wrong time. I hope there's room for him next year, and I hope he shows up and steps it up, because if he does, there's a lot of upside there. Babin too. Weaver is solid. I just hope he works out at tackle, because we could use some speed on the other side of Mario.

LB: Demeco Ryans, Morlon Greenwood.
What can I say about Ryans that hasn't already been said? Best player on our team, by far. Greenwood makes a lot of tackles, and he doesn't seem to miss many. He's not a big-time playmaker, which is too bad, considering what we paid him, but as long as he's not asked to take the team on his shoulders, he'll be solid.

S: Glenn Earl.
I love Glenn Earl. Every time I heard his name, it was a drive-killer. (Whether a penalty negated his play or not). If there were a solid safety on the other side of him, I think he could be all-world.

CB: Demarcus Faggins, Dunta Robinson.
I love Robinson's fire. Early in the season, when the defense was getting embarrassed, he was coming up and knocking the crud out of people because nobody else was doing it. Now that we've got an amazing linebacker doing it, Robinson can go back to shutting people down. I just hope he ends up with a safety he can trust. Faggins is awesome. I still haven't forgotten when he shut down Harrison in 2004. I think it was his first start. I'd like him to be a nickel back, but if he has to start, he's not the worst option we have (see: Sanders, Lewis)

K: Kris Brown will do.

P: nobody. We need more talent here.

Later on, I'll go through what I think we need to improve.

What your saying here is basically keep the entire team we had last year....... Kris Brown sucks, Chad Stanley sucks, Demarcus Faggins sucks, and our entire O-line from day one sucked. Oh and our D-Line aint all that great either their decent. This team needs some major reworking I'm not saying that i have all the answers or even that i have a better alternative idea to these @$$ worthy players but all i know is that they suck and should have been kicked to the curb a long time ago.

What your saying here is basically keep the entire team we had last year....... Kris Brown sucks, Chad Stanley sucks, Demarcus Faggins sucks, and our entire O-line from day one sucked. Oh and our D-Line aint all that great either their decent. This team needs some major reworking I'm not saying that i have all the answers or even that i have a better alternative idea to these @$$ worthy players but all i know is that they suck and should have been kicked to the curb a long time ago.

Your ideas are well-thought-out and well-presented. If only Rick Smith read this message board, the Texans would already be the Superbowl champions. Except that what you propose would be completely impossible, considering the salary cap, the lack of availability of better players in free agency and the existence of 31 other teams competing for those free agents.

Honestly, do you think that we can just go get five fat guys off the street, pay them some money and have them be a cohesive unit for the Texans? I wish they'd told me that. I'd have kept eating.

It's easy to say "These guys suck" "those guys suck" "David Carr Sucks" "Everyone sucks" but it's not really insightful. Has the offensive line been offensive? Yes. In fact, I think the horribility of that unit, more than anything, is why Bob McNair is continually talking about David Carr and the potential. Not because he sees what Carr could be with decent protection, but because he feels sorry for the guy.

Kubiak and Smith made strides with the offensive line in the last draft, going after tackles they felt would help the team and were of decent value where they were picked. I thought they should have gone after D'Brickashaw Ferguson in the draft, even at #1, so I don't entirely disagree with you there, but I'm not dissatisfied with the pick of Mario Williams. Winston and Spencer were good picks, feel free to disagree, but you can't expect rookies to be all-world while they're rookies. I want O-line to be a priority in the offseason too, but I think saying "Throw the baby out with the bathwater" is asinine.

The post I made was about the people I liked. People I thought should be retained. Does that mean I think that they're the best linemen in the league? Certainly not. But we can't afford a wholesale turnover in one offseason and even if we could, who would we get? Don't be a turkey and say "Anyone but who we have" because I played O-Line in Pee-wee, Bantam AND High School, and I'm still not as good as those guys. (I'll still play, though, Rick, if you're reading this. I got quick feet.)

Keep everyone? No. Key people should be either relegated to backup roles or released. These people? CC Brown, Chad Stanley, whoever played opposite Greenwood, Kalu, Faggins (since Nickel is kind of backup), Weigert or Winston, McKinney, Flanagan, Salaam. Hmm... you're right. I think that overturning 3/5 of the offensive line would be keeping the same team.

The point is this: You can holler for full turnover, but it's not going to happen, no matter how loud you boo during the game. It doesn't work that way.

swoldier

01-11-2007, 09:30 PM

Your ideas are well-thought-out and well-presented. If only Rick Smith read this message board, the Texans would already be the Superbowl champions. Except that what you propose would be completely impossible, considering the salary cap, the lack of availability of better players in free agency and the existence of 31 other teams competing for those free agents.

Honestly, do you think that we can just go get five fat guys off the street, pay them some money and have them be a cohesive unit for the Texans? I wish they'd told me that. I'd have kept eating.

It's easy to say "These guys suck" "those guys suck" "David Carr Sucks" "Everyone sucks" but it's not really insightful. Has the offensive line been offensive? Yes. In fact, I think the horribility of that unit, more than anything, is why Bob McNair is continually talking about David Carr and the potential. Not because he sees what Carr could be with decent protection, but because he feels sorry for the guy.

Kubiak and Smith made strides with the offensive line in the last draft, going after tackles they felt would help the team and were of decent value where they were picked. I thought they should have gone after D'Brickashaw Ferguson in the draft, even at #1, so I don't entirely disagree with you there, but I'm not dissatisfied with the pick of Mario Williams. Winston and Spencer were good picks, feel free to disagree, but you can't expect rookies to be all-world while they're rookies. I want O-line to be a priority in the offseason too, but I think saying "Throw the baby out with the bathwater" is asinine.

The post I made was about the people I liked. People I thought should be retained. Does that mean I think that they're the best linemen in the league? Certainly not. But we can't afford a wholesale turnover in one offseason and even if we could, who would we get? Don't be a turkey and say "Anyone but who we have" because I played O-Line in Pee-wee, Bantam AND High School, and I'm still not as good as those guys. (I'll still play, though, Rick, if you're reading this. I got quick feet.)

Keep everyone? No. Key people should be either relegated to backup roles or released. These people? CC Brown, Chad Stanley, whoever played opposite Greenwood, Kalu, Faggins (since Nickel is kind of backup), Weigert or Winston, McKinney, Flanagan, Salaam. Hmm... you're right. I think that overturning 3/5 of the offensive line would be keeping the same team.

The point is this: You can holler for full turnover, but it's not going to happen, no matter how loud you boo during the game. It doesn't work that way.

I dont boo during the games i was actually one of the few people who didnt boo carr during the indy game (the only one i was able to make it too) Oh and i never claimed to be insightful or any kind of expert on the issue all i know as a fan that watched every game either from my local sports bar out here in Cali or the one game i actually got to see live that some of the guys that you mentioned as some that you like I think suck and could very well be improved upon, not all because your right it would be impossible, but some should be. I love the Texans I will support the team regardless whether we win or lose but alot of these guys SUCK. Just because my mom sucks at football doesnt mean i dont love her....you get what im saying?

baba ganoush

01-11-2007, 11:19 PM

i dont think glenn earl is nearly as good as you make him out to be...the only reason why i like him is because, he played for notre dame and im a big irish fan! he was good in college, but nothing in the pros as of yet...

TexansSB07

01-12-2007, 07:53 AM

i dont think glenn earl is nearly as good as you make him out to be...the only reason why i like him is because, he played for notre dame and im a big irish fan! he was good in college, but nothing in the pros as of yet...

give him a decent pass rush and bet he looks better

Coach C.

01-12-2007, 07:57 AM

Hadaad I cant say I agree with alot of what you said, you are commended for giving your opinion in a well structured manner. One thing that bothers me is why do you want Kris Brown still around. The guy kicked 76% for the year, and has never been an overly accurate kicker. In the spirit of your post I want an upgrade at Kicker also, or at least give me a spirited off-season competition.

hadaad

01-12-2007, 08:14 AM

Baba: You may well be right. I watched one Texans game all year (vs. the jets) All of my conjecture comes from listening to the games. I don't even pay that much attention to the stat sheet. I remember early in the year, Earl was making things happen near the goal line and I thought it would be pretty cool if he had a little help at the safety position. I still think he's going to be a good one.

Coach: I have no problem with people disagreeing with what I say. See my comments to baba. There's nothing wrong with competition. I doubt Brown will see any, but maybe we could use a kicker.